Lynne Whitehorn
System Architect
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As
a system architect with more than 20 years of experience helping firms use
digital technologies to solve difficult business problems, Ms. Whitehorn has
consistently demonstrated the need for digital technology initiatives to be
driven by demonstrable business needs.
Although
a strong proponent of the use of information systems, her support for their use
stops short of unreasoned technical evangelism and is instead focused on
helping firms get the most for their IT dollar.
Tempered
by her understanding that the likelihood of success in such efforts is
significantly increased when business leaders understand and support them, she
blends deep technical skills, a reasoned understanding of the appropriate use
of digital technologies, and outstanding creativity to provide her clients with
innovative solutions designed to maximize the potential of their investments.
Objectives
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· To work as a senior member of a high-performance team
working on enterprise-scope software architecture, design, and implementation
aimed at fulfilling strategic corporate goals
· Guide system
design in the direction of highly usable applications for both end-users and
developers
· Create and manage
extremely high-performance teams (highest quality at highest speed)
· Work in an
environment with opportunities for innovation (both for new and legacy systems)
· Help to make IT a
profit center rather than a cost center by ensuring that it both enhances
existing processes and enables new ones
Summary of Qualifications
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Highly
creative but understands how to apply innovation appropriately in a business
environment
20+ years of in all aspects software design and development.
25+ years of programming experience. 15+ years of technical leadership and
management experience.
Excellent speaking, writing, and presentation skills.
Especially
skilled at cost-effective design of enterprise architecture
Technical
leader who understands how to effectively manage development projects in both
standalone and PMO-oriented environments
Record
of building focused and effective teams
Extraordinarily
rapid learner with the ability to teach others
Skills
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Communications
with non-technical users
Emphasis
on systems interacting with other systems
Judicious
use of commercial or in-house frameworks
Deep
understanding of how to resolve apparent conflicts between business and IT
duties and responsibilities
Advocate
for the end-user community
Application
of forensic architecture techniques to uncover problems with system design and
implementation, whether intentional or accidental
Understanding
of the security requirements of complex interacting systems
Conversant
with both modern and legacy technologies at all levels
Current
and extensive platform knowledge of Microsoft Windows platforms, FreeBSD/Unix/Linux,
TCP/IP networking
Current
and extensive knowledge of languages including: C/C++/C#, Visual Basic (all
versions),
Focus
on measurably usable systems
Early
inventor of what are now known as Extreme Programming techniques provides
insights into how and how not to use these tools
Innovative
approaches to leveraging inexperienced staff
Excellent
hiring record
Cross-functional
training to reduce impact of departures
Willing
and eager to participate at all levels of projects
Employment History
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For
the sake of brevity, only the most interesting and relevant project experience
is listed below.
Senior Scientist reporting to CTO providing applied research
into next-generation industrial SCADA (Supervisory Control And
Data Acquisition) systems. This work involved technical and strategic
analysis, software design and development (C#, Java), extensive internal
publication.
Projects:
·
· The World’s
Cheapest SCADA Device – using Parallax BasicStamp
technology and off-the-shelf sensor technology (magnetic, IR, thermo, etc.) to
create a device capable of providing data to, and being controlled by our
corporate SCADA product suite. The device cost about $100 and was
capable of supporting multiple, simultaneous sensors.
· Ubiquitous
imaging, high-volume and performance sensor-data storage using off-the-shelf
webcams. This project involved redesigning our BLOB-storage
service to support tiered storage services with petabytes
of data
·
IPv6 product readiness evaluation – a two-part project with both
technical and strategic analysis section
o Reviewed
IPv6 adoption and availability at both the general and industry (SCADA) levels
to provide baseline information for our product management group to evaluate
the costs and benefits arising from moving to IPv6
o Created
a fork of the product’s C++ IPv4-specific networking services code base to
support IPv4 and IPv6. This was a challenge, given that the existing code
was tightly bound to specific structure lengths in IPv4 data structures.
· Ongoing,
internal blog-based reporting of industry near- and medium-term developments in
sensor technology, SCADA-related security issues, and potential regulatory problems.
Programming
Arts, LLC is the official name of my consulting practice. Incorporated in
1994, I have worked exclusively for Programming Arts between 2003 and 2007.
Dashboard family of products - A line financial planning and
modeling tool for universities of any size. Current in its second
version, the Dashboard combines an Excel workbook with a .NET-based user
interface. The model, a very complex 400 (yes, four hundred) page workbook is
the actual model and data store, while the UI provides dashboard-style
interaction.
I
designed the products along with my client at Huron and was solely responsible
for all development activities.
Implemented
in C# and VB.Net
RIP
Application
Usability
Engineering Lifecycle
Software
development environment virtualization
Called
in by ML to oversee the re-design and implementation of Dell Service’s botched
document management and SEC standards compliance system.
Completed
and redesigned an existing system comprised of .NET and .NET
Restored
confidence in the project in the overseas (
Designed
an integrated set of applications used in managing the chain's stores. The
applications provided for inventory control, scheduling and forecasting. The
chain's CEO estimated that the sales value of the product in attracting new
franchisees exceeded $100 million and was a direct contributor to the firm's
historically successful IPO.
This
work was nominated for a 1994 Smithsonian Institution/ComputerWorld
Technical Excellence Award.
Designed a system that combined a multi-threaded, SGML-based
hypertext browser with a document/applet server that used a TCP/IP-based
communications protocol. This system was intended for use by
Internet-capable bulletin board operators and their customers and pre-dated the
Web and HTML-based browsers by several years.
Designed
and prototyped a personal productivity and information organizing package based
on their 6W (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How) methodology of process
design.
Senior Director (Partner-level non-equity position) with DiamondCluster
International in
Designer
of DiamondCluster's security services model. Unlike
traditional security practices designed around tools, this model is built on
understanding the role of information technology security in the context of
business requirements. It is a unique approach that simultaneously leveraged DCI's expertise in technology, business value management,
and project/program management. By attacking the heart of the problem, i.e.
"How much should be spent to protect a given asset?” this approach avoids
the target fixation normally associated with "security"
planning.
Designed a system for a European automotive insurer for tracking
vehicle use. Provided multiple options for hardware
and software using both GPS and local RF technology. The system was
designed to minimize cost, allow for backwards compatibility with existing
automobiles, and to take advantage of specific local geographic and terrain
features. The maximum cost of the system, both vehicular and infrastructure,
was less than half its closest competitor in the most expensive model. In the
optimum technical and business configuration, the system would show a profit
due to income from governmental bodies as a result of traffic data sales.
For
the leading provider of children's educational materials and serial
publications, she was the principal technical architect for a web-based content
creation, distribution, management, and presentation system. Designed to be
used by content authors, students, teachers, and parents, this system provided
the means to create and deliver educational content for the K-12 market. The
client components of the system were cross-platform and capable of running on
any common existing computer, to allow for the most widespread deployment
possible. The system allowed for the incorporation of non-locally developed
materials to be purchased on an auctioned basis, thus allowing talented
instructors to profit from their creativity.
Developed initial architecture for retirement planning portal.
Spent significant amount of time analyzing current state IT
for reusable components and systems. Key technical
role in selling the concept and project.
Designed
new technical and business approaches to exploiting a high-speed satellite data
link for moving automobile (or other) traffic. (Note: this is not OnStar, but an as-yet undeployed
new technology.) Was able to show that existing product and service
propositions (from 19 competing firms) offered no compelling experience to the
potential customer and were impractical and expensive to boot. As a side
effect, her design eliminates the "last mile problem" for high-speed,
high-bandwidth home Internet use.
Designed
and managed the implementation of a prototypical proximity tracking system
using inexpensive, off-the-shelf active RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
technology. The project was undertaken for an industry seminar and successfully
demonstrated both the strengths and weaknesses of current RFID mechanisms.
For
a major quick-service delivery restaurant chain, she designed an implemented a
paper-free standards reference system. This system was used by the firm's
developers as a source of standards and examples for use in building intra- and
Internet-based systems
Technology evaluation and commercialization planning for a major
aerospace manufacturer. Rapid evaluation of both the technical and
business merits of technologies such as (but not limited to) network routing
algorithms, high-speed networking switching, electro-optical image processing
technologies, security monitoring software, object-like and object-oriented
databases. Our client contact, an ex-consultant himself, praised the work in
writing to DiamondCluster management as being the
best he had ever seen.
Designed,
wrote and taught the firm's Technology
for Non-technologists class.
Founder
of the Applied Research Group, Principal-level consultant for IT development
projects
Spent a significant amount of time over the course of several years
analyzing and rescuing, where possible, failing projects. Often, these
projects had significant problems with not only technology but management and
leadership as well. Their work resulted in provable savings of tens of millions
of dollars, retention of essential personnel and the avoidance of costly and
embarrassing publicity.
Senior product architect in the M-Lynx (CSC's object-oriented
application framework for high-volume transactional systems) group. She
was responsible for the design of the user interface and meta-data components
of the M-Lynx product (the Microsoft technology-oriented implementation of
Lynx), for defining future product features, and creating related
proof-of-concept research prototypes. As one of the original members of the
M-Lynx team, she was instrumental in the creation of development tools,
standards and practices and remains involved in the day-to-day guidance of the
development team.
Developed
Design Stance Modeling, a procedural tool used in the analysis and
design of software. Design stances are abstractions like "security",
"high availability", and "functionality" that are often
used without a full understanding of the issues involved in selecting one over
another. DSM provides a way for various stakeholders to communicate and come to
a common understanding about the trade-offs involved in the priority ordering
of development tasks.
Working
with a major, multi-line
For
a leading
For
a financial services firm, Ms. Whitehorn has provided ongoing work in the areas
of project failure analysis and recovery. Too, she has provided extensive
guidance on the design and development of the client's broker support system.
Her work has resulted in significant savings and increased standardization of
both technology and practices.
For
a leading
Business
Process Design group
Software
design and development
Responsible
for the design, development and support of packaged software used by BPD
consultants
Packages
included one of the first palette-oriented “smart drawing” packages. This
product predated Visio’s commercial release by several months.
Created
one of the earliest shrink-wrapped electronic survey creation tools
Used
C++ and Borland Paradox as our primary tools
Software
developer for an object-oriented database manufacturer
Responsible for the redesign, porting and implementation of their
product using the IBM OS/2 platform. This product was selected by IBM
for its internal use in a number of products and was used by customers
worldwide. Instrumental in advocating and conducting the
porting of this product to the then brand-new Microsoft Windows NT
platform.
Responsible
for the creation of demonstration software that included the first (that I know
of) multimedia-based real estate listing application
Worked
with IBM on the creation of the Ultimedia distributed
multimedia OODB product
Primary
software development language was C++
Systems
programming, application development and developer coaching for a large
academic IT outsourcer
Responsible
for supporting application developers through training, coaching, and
design/implementation consulting
Software
development tools include C, various 4GL products (Progress, Easel)
Responsible
for the design and implementation of the school’s Internet connection and
electronic mail systems and gateways
Designed
and lead the implementation of their transition from an IBM mainframe
environment to a DEC VAX cluster environment integrated with networked PCs. An
independent performance-auditing firm that examined the system cited its design
and performance as being among the best it had ever seen.
Designed
and led the implementation of the network security system. This system was
never penetrated despite seeing a three order of magnitude increase in traffic
over its lifetime.
Largest
free public electronic bulletin board system (140+ nodes)
Network
designer and scripting expert
Responsible
for the first interconnection of a bbs and the
Internet
Design
and implementation of the network infrastructure using Novell Netware
Note:
this is not the commercial educational firm of the same name
CASE
(Computer Aided Software Engineering) software manufacturer
VAX/VMS
system administration and system programming
PC
networking (3COM, DEC PCSA, Netware)
Created the MIS department and infrastructure. Her
design allowed the company to grow from 25 employees to over 200 employees in
under two years without increasing its MIS staff beyond 2.5 FTEs.
Government
contractor building ruggedized communications equipment for the US Marines
VAX/VMS,
RT-11, RSTS/E Systems administration and system programming
Software
development, package implementation, and performance consulting firm
VAX/VMS
packaged software development (e.g. Salvage yard distributed inventory
management system)
Compiler
development of the company’s flagship product: Intouch
– 4GL superset of ANSI Basic + text-mode IDE
Coded
in Intouch and Bliss-32
Performance
and VAX/VMS application development consulting for various clients
VAX/VMS
systems administration and system programming
Academic application development. E.g., class
scheduling
Contractor
position
TOPS-10
v6 & v7 operations
MRP
software development in Cobol 74
References and Quotes
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More references and direct contact information are
available on request
§ Despite claims to contrary, the effective application of
information technology remains a key path to strategic success. To do that
requires two skills, both in short supply; sound instincts about the state of
the possible with technology and the ability to lead technical experts in
bringing the possible about. Lynne has both those skills in abundant measure.
-- Jim McGee, author of
Managing Information Strategically
Articles
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Some of these articles are available
online, but since their URLs change regularly, please contact me for information
regarding their current locations.
§
You’re the Doctor – how the Web fundamentally changes the
physician-patient relationship – Context, 2002
§
TheFun Hybrid Fix – Telephony, May
2002
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Hackers, hot rods, and the
information drag strip – IEEE Spectrum,
October 2001
§
How to Succeed in Software
Development – BrassRing
Campus, 2001